Understanding Persistent Pain
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Understanding Persistent Pain – A feasibility study for the use of a digital decision aid tool for persistent pain in a pharmacy setting.
IRAS ID
281537
Contact name
Mandy Ryan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Aberdeen
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 9 months, 17 days
Research summary
Research Summary
This study will assess the feasibility of using digital decision aid tool as part of a pharmacist-led pain consultation to encourage shared decision making and the delivery of person centred care. People living with non-malingnant persistent pain will be invited to a pain consultation with a local pharmacist during which they will discuss current lifestyle and pain, and discuss different pain management plans that match the preferences of the individual. Patients will be randomised so that a percentage of the sample use the digital decision aid tool as part of the consultation.
Summary of Results
Aim
Pain is a complex issue that can benefit from treatment that considers personal circumstances and experiences. We developed a novel digital decision aid tool (DAT), named Understanding Persistent Pain (UPP) that can be used during pain consultations with pharmacists and examined whether it can help produce more personalised management plans.Methods
The UPP DAT asks people to make choices between different pain management plans in a way that resembles real-world decisions. The UPP DAT works out in real time what features of pain management are liked and disliked and creates a personalised report that can be used by patients and pharmacists to help guide the consultation.We carried out literature searches and interviews with patients, pharmacists and GPs to design our UPP DAT. Pharmacists then invited patients for pain consultations to use the tool. Current busy workloads did not allow us to fully test the tool during consultations, so we also organised a patient tester event with people living with pain to directly test the UPP DAT.
Results
Pharmacists and patient testers who got to use the UPP DAT found it useful to inform a pain consultation and to get people to think of the things they liked and disliked. Given that busy workloads are expected to continue, we found the tool would be most useful if redesigned to be completed by patients in their own time or before a consultation for them to share the report with their pharmacist or doctor.REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 1
REC reference
21/NS/0059
Date of REC Opinion
31 May 2021
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion